


Name-Calling

by Lycaenion



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Darkstar is a Menacing Badass And Don't You Forget It, Etymology, Gen, I really like name meanings okay, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 09:03:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11055735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lycaenion/pseuds/Lycaenion
Summary: 284 words of Darkstar being himself, because I have a strangely deep affection for this renegade anime character. Written February 2017.





	Name-Calling

It was an Andal name, Gerold. _Rule of the spear_. A petty boast from overeager conquerors who hadn’t even been able to fell the Kings of the Torrentine, but had to worm their way in with marriages. After Nymeria’s War it took on another meaning: see, Martells, we acknowledge you, we are your leal vassals, we submit to you. Your vision of Dorne is ours now, we will all remake ourselves in your image.

Pathetic.

It took a very particular kind of maester to be interested in such trivialities as where names came from, or who first coined them. But there had been one, and he had filled a book with them, and the book had made its way to Starfall and thereby into the hidebound mind of the current maester, who bleated at him about his proud heritage. The score of ancestral Gerolds peppered throughout his lineage would be shamed that he had spat on them so. 

“They shall have to get used to the taste,” he said. “I am not like them. I am not like _anyone_.”

“But Ser Gero—oh…” 

“If your tongue’s wagging blocks your ears, I should do you a kindness and remove it.” Not his best line, but a knifepoint between the lips was eloquent in its own way. 

“Glk,” said the maester. 

Eyes like evening narrowed, intent and merciless. “Many more Gerolds will be born and buried, and men like you will make note of it, and no one will care. I will be remembered by all. I am what I make of myself. 

_“I am Darkstar.”_

After a moment, he smiled and took the blade away. “But have you anything, pray tell, to say about ‘Arthur?’”


End file.
